question about phone charging lockers

[Garboczi, Beth]

Hi all,

Does anyone have phone/device charging lockers at your libraries? And if so, what, if anything do you do when patrons forget their code and need to retrieve their device? We frequently have patrons either forget their code or accidentally clear it so that it doesn't work anymore and we have a lot of requests to manually open the locker for them. This has created one or two dicey situations with theft, and we are trying to make this process more secure. Would love to know if anyone else has this problem and how you deal with it.

Thanks!

Beth Garboczi (she/her)

Library Circulation Supervisor

Library & Cultural Services Department | City of Aurora

Office Hours: Monday–Friday, 9:15 a.m.–6:00 p.m.

Phone: 303.739.6629

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[Christine Pancoast]

Hi Beth,

We have run into the same problem and developed a policy for staff to handle the situation.  I copied this from our staff wiki -

Uh, oh. Forgot my PIN

We know this will happen. Here are some guidelines for verifying the device belongs to the patron before you unlock the locker.

• If it's a phone, have a staff member call the number.
• If it's a tablet or laptop, have the patron describe the device (brand, color, stickers, etc.).
• See item 4 below for a final confirmation of ownership.

If you believe the patron is the owner of the device based on one of the two options above, follow the steps below. The final ownership check will be to have the patron enter the unlock code or password on their device.

IMPORTANT: Please shield the code from the patron when you are entering the override codes.

 

 

Christine

 

Christine Pancoast (she/her)  
Library Supervisor - Circulation  
Westminster Public Library/College Hill Branch  
cpan...@westminsterco.gov| 303.658.2610
3705 W. 112^th Ave., Westminster, CO 80031  

 

 

Be kind. Everyone you meet is carrying a heavy burden. - Ian MacLaren

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[Hannah Kinne, EPL]

Hi all,

EPL had charging lockers for a number of years, but got rid of them in late 2024 for this exact reason, as well as increased contention between patrons who got territorial over the lockers or started arguments with other patrons. 

We had a similar process for recovering items as Westminster, but we stopped opening the lockers up during business hours and started putting items left behind in the lost and found at the end of the night, which people could recover the next morning by describing the item and then unlocking it in front of library staff. 

But honestly - they ended up being more trouble than they were worth. We had folks using them as a storage space for non-electronic items, and the raw meat left overnight was the final straw for us!

Best,

Hannah Kinne